Teens Are Using IUDs Instead Of Condoms, Increasing Their Risk For STIs

Trending News: This Effective Form Of Birth Control Is Putting Teens Off Condoms

Why Is This Important?

Because college dorms are cesspools of sexually-transmitted diseases as it is.

Long Story Short

High school girls are starting to use long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) and intrauterine devices (IUDs) more often which is helping to bring the unplanned pregnancy way down — but they're not using condoms as much, so STIs are continuing to run rampant.

Long Story

This important message deserves repeating considering the incredible effectiveness of LARCs and IUDs in women as a form of birth control. While the pill was considered a wonder for stopping unplanned pregnancies — and it still is — it garners 6 to 12 pregnancies out of 100, usually due to human error like forgetting to take a dose. But implants and IUDs aren't as open to human error and can be as effective as vasectomies or tube-tying at less than 1 pregnancy in 100, according to the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) nifty chart.

As a result, women are taking note and using this form of birth control more often, which has helped put unplanned pregnancies at a 30 year-low — and that's awesome. But there's an unintended consequence.

According to a new study published in JAMA Paediatrics(seen via Mic), high school teens who use LARCs and IUDs are forgetting about condoms altogether. In fact, they're "60 percent less likely to also be using a condom during sex than the girls who were taking oral contraceptives," according to STAT's summary of the findings. So while these teens might be pretty safe on the unplanned pregnancy front, they're opening themselves up to sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) (or STDs, whatever you want to call them), which is something teens especially need to worry about. With diseases like chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhoea on the rise and nearly half of the 20 million people STIs believed to be young people, according to the CDC, it's not a great idea to play Russian roulette by not wrapping it.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Should sexual health professionals start advocating for LARCs and IUDs more than the pill?